author

James Oscar Boyd

1874–1947

A Bible scholar and teacher at Princeton Theological Seminary, he wrote clear, compact books that helped general readers and students get their bearings in Scripture. His best-known work, co-authored with J. Gresham Machen, turns a large biblical story into something approachable and readable.

1 Audiobook

A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments

A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments

by James Oscar Boyd, J. Gresham (John Gresham) Machen

About the author

James Oscar Boyd (1874–1947) was an American theologian, orientalist, and biblical scholar. Available reference pages identify him as Assistant Professor of Oriental and Old Testament Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary, and his surviving bibliography shows a strong focus on Old Testament studies and related languages.

His known works include The Documents of the Book of Ezra (1900), The Historicity of Ezra (1900), Ezekiel and the Modern Dating of the Pentateuch (1908), and The Octateuch in Ethiopic According to the Text of the Paris Codex (1911). These titles suggest a scholar interested both in close textual work and in major historical questions surrounding the Hebrew Bible.

For many readers, he is most visible through A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments, published in 1922 with J. Gresham Machen. The book’s continued presence in library catalogs and public-domain collections has helped keep his work available long after his lifetime.